All 2009 328is have telephone prep right? Mine isn't listed but I have MULF with usb/ipod idrive, hdd and idrive. I have a telephone button to.. I don't have to run another mic wire do I since I have voice commands?

All 2009 328is have telephone prep right? Mine isn't listed but I have MULF with usb/ipod idrive, hdd and idrive. I have a telephone button to.. I don't have to run another mic wire do I since I have voice commands?

No, they don't. Mid production they stopped including phone prep, mine doesn't have it.

If you have voice command, I'll assume you also have iDrive? That means you have a mic, but it's more likely connected directly to the CIC than it is to the MULF. If you have phone prep, you can repin the mic in the junction box area from the CIC to direct to the MULF. If you don't have phone prep, you definitely have to run a new wire. It's probably easier to run a new wire either way.

I've personally done my car (328i 2009 no idrive no prep) and one other (335i 2009 idrive don't recall prep) and ran wires for both of them.

No, they don't. Mid production they stopped including phone prep, mine doesn't have it.

If you have voice command, I'll assume you also have iDrive? That means you have a mic, but it's more likely connected directly to the CIC than it is to the MULF. If you have phone prep, you can repin the mic in the junction box area from the CIC to direct to the MULF. If you don't have phone prep, you definitely have to run a new wire. It's probably easier to run a new wire either way.

I've personally done my car (328i 2009 no idrive no prep) and one other (335i 2009 idrive don't recall prep) and ran wires for both of them.

Yeah I have idrive pro.. So you just end up running another wire to where the mic is in the roof? Do you get all the options for telephone once you run that wire? With working telephone buton on the wheel and idrive controls? How long did it take you to run that wire and how hard?

Yeah I have idrive pro.. So you just end up running another wire to where the mic is in the roof? Do you get all the options for telephone once you run that wire? With working telephone buton on the wheel and idrive controls? How long did it take you to run that wire and how hard?

Well, you have to get the car coded up to unlock the options. I actually coded the car first just to make sure that spending money on hardware (mic, wire) was worth it. Which is good, too, coding wasn't trivial in my case.

But yes, anyway, all you need is the mic and to run that cable. I ran under the headliner, down the driver's A pillar, through the dash down into the pedal trim by the FRM, under the scuff plate, past the B pillar, up under the seat and into the trunk.

If you have coaxially constructed RCAs, then yes, they're theoretically shielded, but they're not quite the same (and not quite as good) as the shielded twisted pair that I suggested. That said, if you construct the interconnect right, it's PROBABLY going to work just fine - even people who don't use shielded (or even twisted) wire at all don't tend to relay that their conversation partners get annoyed by noise. Not that that means there's no problem.

Presuming you DO have coax RCAs (and not simply twisted ones), you'll want to use the core from cable 1 as Mic+, the core from cable 2 as Mic-, then you'll want to solder the shields from both cables together and connect that to pin 23 on the MULF side (pretty sure it's 23, anyway, read one of the other guide posts floating around, maybe even in this thread, don't remember where I am).

That will probably have performance pretty similar to using the normal shielded twisted wire I linked, although I think it theoretically doesn't have as high a noise rejection performance. The other problem is impedance matching, which could matter over a long run like this, but at such low (audio) frequencies, I'd be surprised if it made a difference. Plus, it's not like I measured or did any matching on the mic or wire I picked, so whatever.

it's pin 21 from the circuit diagram in the BMW bluetooth retrofit guide for cars without phone prep. see attachment.

No, they don't. Mid production they stopped including phone prep, mine doesn't have it.

If you have voice command, I'll assume you also have iDrive? That means you have a mic, but it's more likely connected directly to the CIC than it is to the MULF. If you have phone prep, you can repin the mic in the junction box area from the CIC to direct to the MULF. If you don't have phone prep, you definitely have to run a new wire. It's probably easier to run a new wire either way.

I've personally done my car (328i 2009 no idrive no prep) and one other (335i 2009 idrive don't recall prep) and ran wires for both of them.

The foreman yesterday told me that the only thing needed to be done was the antenna attached and the coding. That the MOST cable running from MULF2 could use the mic or something. That after I attach the antenna if it takes them more than an hour they wont charge me O.O

So I am out there dropping the trim pannel and I don't see where this MOST connector is. Also, I assume all cars with MULF2 have that extra cable that runs from the mulf over to the trim panel? I guess the phone prep has more to do with having the mic?

The foreman yesterday told me that the only thing needed to be done was the antenna attached and the coding. That the MOST cable running from MULF2 could use the mic or something. That after I attach the antenna if it takes them more than an hour they wont charge me O.O

So I am out there dropping the trim pannel and I don't see where this MOST connector is. Also, I assume all cars with MULF2 have that extra cable that runs from the mulf over to the trim panel? I guess the phone prep has more to do with having the mic?

I'm not sure what you're talking about, or why you keep bringing up MOST. If you have Sirius prep, there will be a second MOST cable sitting loose under your floor panel in the trunk, but that's totally irrelevant here.

What's probably easiest is if you just yank up the trunk floor and take a picture for us.

I will say: If the SA says it's easy AND HAS ACTUALLY LOOKED IN YOUR TRUNK, you probably have phone prep and everything's... easy.

HOWEVER: I had an SA once tell me "retrofit bluetooth? your car already has it!" "Uh, no it doesn't, it's a base model and that's an option it doesn't have." "No they all came with bluetooth in '09 on." "No, no that's just not correct." "Let's look... Huh, that's weird, it doesn't have bluetooth."

Then he never called back to actually let me know what they'd charge to retrofit.

Point being, with exceptions for the type of info only available to BMW employees, this forum knows collectively more than plenty of SAs.

I'm not sure what you're talking about, or why you keep bringing up MOST. If you have Sirius prep, there will be a second MOST cable sitting loose under your floor panel in the trunk, but that's totally irrelevant here.

What's probably easiest is if you just yank up the trunk floor and take a picture for us.

I will say: If the SA says it's easy AND HAS ACTUALLY LOOKED IN YOUR TRUNK, you probably have phone prep and everything's... easy.

HOWEVER: I had an SA once tell me "retrofit bluetooth? your car already has it!" "Uh, no it doesn't, it's a base model and that's an option it doesn't have." "No they all came with bluetooth in '09 on." "No, no that's just not correct." "Let's look... Huh, that's weird, it doesn't have bluetooth."

Then he never called back to actually let me know what they'd charge to retrofit.

Point being, with exceptions for the type of info only available to BMW employees, this forum knows collectively more than plenty of SAs.

lol I already had that issue of showing them the MULF2 and them telling me it cant be enabled. I went back the second time to get the parts to do it myself and got to speak to a foreman who has done retrofits before.. He looked it at pulled the MULF2 out and said all I needed to do is attach an anennta and have coding.. Either way he said if there were complications getting it to work correctly they wont charge me over the hour..

So yeah I read on page one lol and I have the same cable set up as this guy. I have sat prep and no phone prep so it looks like this cable in the back runs up to the shark fin for sat prep. Anyone know the name of the cable they use for the blue tooth annetna. I have a feeling I can get it cheap at frys but don't know the name.

Okay, so sat and no phone prep, it's by far easiest just to run a new mic cable. The antenna cable you're talking about is SMB. The cable will need to be a female plug on the MULF side to mate up. I assume it'll need to be female on the antenna side, too, but I didn't use the stock antenna. I bought a $5 RP-SMA duck antenna, SMA-SMB adapter, and SMB female to SMB male extension to go from the mulf to the adapter to the antenna.

If you've got the antenna already, can you post a picture of the connector on it?

RE: range to the front - if you leave the antenna in the trunk, it'll probably work fine. But it IS highly directional and the coverage pattern is optimized to be in the cabin where it normally goes.

Okay, so sat and no phone prep, it's by far easiest just to run a new mic cable. The antenna cable you're talking about is SMB. The cable will need to be a female plug on the MULF side to mate up. I assume it'll need to be female on the antenna side, too, but I didn't use the stock antenna. I bought a $5 RP-SMA duck antenna, SMA-SMB adapter, and SMB female to SMB male extension to go from the mulf to the adapter to the antenna.

If you've got the antenna already, can you post a picture of the connector on it?

RE: range to the front - if you leave the antenna in the trunk, it'll probably work fine. But it IS highly directional and the coverage pattern is optimized to be in the cabin where it normally goes.

lol I figure a wifi antenna would work wasn't sure tho.. Wish I would have thought about that before I dropped 35.00 on this one.

Anyone know where I can order an SMB female to female cabe that isn't a 3 week wait out of china?

Not for cheap, anyway. China's your only real bet. You can almost certainly find something on mouser or digikey, but they don't have many full assemblies and if/when you find one after a few hours of searching, it'll be at least 10x the price you'll pay on ebay.

Not for cheap, anyway. China's your only real bet. You can almost certainly find something on mouser or digikey, but they don't have many full assemblies and if/when you find one after a few hours of searching, it'll be at least 10x the price you'll pay on ebay.

I can't find shit... The dealership can't find the cable and all the electronic and parts store do not know what it is.. I keep getting told to call sound stores and they don't know what it is.. Which I find kinda sad because they use them in XM radio antenna runs.

I can't find shit... The dealership can't find the cable and all the electronic and parts store do not know what it is.. I keep getting told to call sound stores and they don't know what it is.. Which I find kinda sad because they use them in XM radio antenna runs.

The dealership can't find the cable because there is no cable for them to find. It's part of the base wiring harness with phone prep. I'm not sure what sound stores you're calling, but you're unlikely to find RF cables there, much less an obscure one like SMB. Like I said, even frys only has one adapter in their entire inventory.

The dealership can't find the cable because there is no cable for them to find. It's part of the base wiring harness with phone prep. I'm not sure what sound stores you're calling, but you're unlikely to find RF cables there, much less an obscure one like SMB. Like I said, even frys only has one adapter in their entire inventory.

I didn't. The adapter at frys is irrelevant. It's just the only thing at any physical store anywhere that actually has an SMB plug at all. I'd link you the cable I bought on eBay, but it's a m-f extension, thus not what you need. Although you may, since finding an F-F cable long enough to go trunk to dash will be hard. Unless you're definitely just leaving it in the trunk.

like what alex has said, it's cheaper to buy from eBay. when i did my retrofit, my local stockiest helped me order a short facra cable from BMW germany. but somehow, they can't even find the cable in stock even in germany. so i ended up buying one from eBay since the ones i could find in store were like 4 to 5 times of what i would had paid for on eBay.

like what alex has said, it's cheaper to buy from eBay. when i did my retrofit, my local stockiest helped me order a short facra cable from BMW germany. but somehow, they can't even find the cable in stock even in germany. so i ended up buying one from eBay since the ones i could find in store were like 4 to 5 times of what i would had paid for on eBay.

I don't know how you found any in store.. I also don't know how you manage to get them to order you a part from Germany. The best my place could do was order me a 20 foot one for 30 dollars. Not even sure if it was female to female. I ended up paying 5 bucks for a 5 inch one and cutting the female connector off. Then cutting a XM radio connector off that was female of the same SMB and soldering those together then heat shrink lol..

What really started to piss me off is these SMB connectors are used in sirius radio, usb and blue tooth antenna. So why is the part impossible to find?
Oh and it was funny I was calling places that do XM radio installs to purchase the cable. None of them had it but it is kinda impossible to do an antenna run without these connectors. One guy wouldn't even let me finish before he said he doesn't carry the cable. If you install XM radio you have the connectors. I even described the cable and what it was used for on installing XM radio..